In a previous article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WP themes so attractive to web site owners, then make sure to check out our post: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, we show you where you can browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WordPress site. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of product support and poor coding.
As we’ve explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven sites and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many individual website designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of professional-quality WordPress themes designed to cover many website uses.
Finding Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
If you were to browse over to Google and search for a key phrase like the following:
- best responsive themes for WordPress
- best responsive themes for WordPress
- best responsive WordPress themes for authors (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search results.
So, to help you save time and make things easier, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in another article. For now, let’s just cover the topic of finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design aspects of your website.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that there are both Free and Paid themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be licensed for use as Premium (paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Directories vs Theme Development Firms
There are two different types of places where WordPress themes can be found. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WP theme developers.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big theme stores. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the larger theme stores don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent WP theme stores can also design both free and premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of developer, to large theme development companies.
As you will see, most commercial theme design houses sell their themes exclusively on their own web sites, but some will also list their themes in marketplaces and directories, or even create a free or “lite” version of their themes for free directories .
Let’s now show you where to search for great WP themes for your website or blog.
Where To Find Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to search for WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as many free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a review team to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with high quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Look For Free WP Themes Inside Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress.org theme directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and start using it directly from within your WordPress dashboard with only a couple of mouse clicks.
Use Theme Filtering
WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …
This makes it easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly gray colour design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another post where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display without problems across all devices (e.g. laptops, tablets and smartphones) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and find only themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of built-in customizable features, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside to using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask users for donations to help cover their support costs.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over a year since any change was last made, then think carefully about downloading it, as the WordPress software changes quite often and these changes can create conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still relatively new, there is nothing wrong with using a free theme until you have a better idea of the kind of site design that would work best for your site before spending money on paid themes. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for your site and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to paid WP themes.
Paid WordPress Themes
If you are looking for themes with stunning web design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and ongoing support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known WordPress theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme creators showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and e-magazines, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for creative work, crafts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to employment opportunities, buy & sell, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, cafes, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for retail stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, dental practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to technology, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, green living sites or blogs … even themes you can use if your site is still under-construction!
When you purchase WordPress themes from ThemeForest, you will receive email notifications when a new update is available for your theme …
(ThemeForest emails you theme update notifications)
Go here to discover great themes in the ThemeForest marketplace:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see more themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can search through thousands of quality premium WP themes from independent theme creators.
As stated on their website …
“Creative Market is a platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world.”
Creative Market doesn’t just sell WP themes in its marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Photography themes, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market themes directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to see more themes at Mojo)
Mojo is a directory for premium-quality WP themes where theme vendors are strongly encouraged to provide customers with lifetime support and upgrades.
According to their website …
“Mojo is a marketplace where anyone can find, rate and buy quality themes & templates in one trusted place.”
Like Envato and Creative Market, Mojo doesn’t focus exclusively on WordPress themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories from the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial and independent WP theme design houses.
Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Design Companies
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to see all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates eye-catching themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their growing theme collection.
(click on the above images to view all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates gorgeous WP themes for e-commerce. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the images above to view more StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets users quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework regularly updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that it always remains compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework without losing any customizations you may have made to your theme.
This is because StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
If this all sounds way too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned about it. StudioPress themes are very easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing themes from StudioPress is that you pay just one low price to receive unlimited support and updates, and you can install your themes on unlimited domains.
For more details, click here: StudioPress.
(click on the images above to view all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That – WP Theme And Plugin Search Tool
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a website uses (including parent and child themes).
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme the site is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell if a website was built using WordPress: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Site And WordPress-Checking Tools
Using this tool is very simple. Just enter the site’s domain name into the field and click the search icon or hit “Enter.” The tool will then not only confirm if the site is built on WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How To Check If Your Web Site Was Built With WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A well-known method used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then distribute modified themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress directory, or use established and reputable theme merchants.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could be infected with malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your WordPress theme files. The TAC plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of suspicious code and then outputs a report …
(TAC Report Page – Source: Plugin Site, WordPress.org)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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